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Michael phelps webbed feet4/3/2023 "I was talking to Bob (Bowman, his coach) the other night," Phelps explained later, "and what is really sticking in my head is that, it's a lot of medals. A false start didn't alter the respective posturing. It has kinda stuck with me and I really wanted that one back." In Rio, they stood with their backs to each other at the start -Phelps, one leg on the start pad and the South African facing the other side. "I don't want him to win and I'm sure he doesn't want me to win," he said of Le Clos. In Rio, on Tuesday, his contest with an 'upstart' seven years his junior, completely humanized the Olympic-sized myth of Phelps. His rivalries with Thorpe initially, Lochte midway and briefly with Sun Yang -were always fleeting. People believe he is from Mars, and that's why perhaps astro-physicists are certain there's source of water on the planet. ![]() Watching Phelps now, in his fifth Olympics you'd always thought he was competing with himself. The American, perhaps, was more stung than stunned. Four years ago, he stretched enough at the right time to edge out the legend he grew up idolizing to win the 200m butterfly gold medal in London. Chad le Clos is a cocky 24-year-old Durbaniite, so frighteningly talented that he makes Phelps lose sleep over him. Then, Phelps made it the stuff for the big boys, a pride-fuelled trip so overpowering in its rawness that it simply sucked you all in. Just to be able to see the No 1 next to my name again in the 200 fly, one more time." Till Tuesday, the Rio Olympics were still fun and games. I honestly didn't know that I only won by a couple of hundredths of a second until the awards ceremony. And if I did, every ounce that I had was left in the pool. "I did not say anything to anybody here," he repeated, "but there wasn't a shot in hell, I was losing that thing. ![]() With 21 Olympic gold and more to come - you can refer to yourself in third person for the rest of your life, but each time the 200m butterfly came up, his jaws would tighten. He so wanted to talk about 'it' that at times he just mumbled to himself, allowing himself a chuckle or two.
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